Re: which tablet to get

"The usual tablet bells and whistles are all still here: WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, ambient light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, front and rear facing cameras. The only missing checkbox is the lack of any cellular connectivity. Both of Microsofts tablets remain WiFi-only at this point."--Oh, praise the one who paid my debt;And raised this life up from the dead.

"The usual tablet bells and whistles are all still here: WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, ambient light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, front and rear facing cameras. The only missing checkbox is the lack of any cellular connectivity. Both of Microsofts tablets remain WiFi-only at this point."

Just get a cellular USB dongle; it hardly matters with the Surface Pro since it runs a full version of Win 8 I believe.

"The usual tablet bells and whistles are all still here: WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, ambient light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, front and rear facing cameras. The only missing checkbox is the lack of any cellular connectivity. Both of Microsofts tablets remain WiFi-only at this point."

I've never seen a PC tablet with cellular capabilities. The Surface Pro is a PC tablet. Having said that, it's not an issue for me as I have been looking for an excuse to try something like FreedomPop were you get free (all be it limited) data service for multiple devices. Also one could tether from ones phone as well.

So again, for me, it's not an issue unless I try and make it an issue,........artificially. Same for GPS as I could always get a Bluetooth GPS device,.....and so on,....

The AT&T branded version of the Samsung ATIV 500T has LTE built in. Oddly, though, their model does not include the stylus or the integrated slot for it, but I believe the Wacom digitizer is still present and just about any Wacom stylus (including the ones shipped with certain Lenovo notebooks) will work on it.--"The counsel of fools is all the more dangerous the more of them there are." -Ólafr Höskuldsson

Oh I dont doubt that there are some. I was only saying that I myself havent come across one yet which suggest that they are decidedly less prevalent. This spans not just the most recent models Ive seen but all the way back to some of the first Windows 7 models of tablet PC Ive come across (years ago).

Its good that these are starting to come out as an option though I dont see it as a necessity in part because its not a closed or walled garden that we are talking about when referring to Windows 8 tablets.

I also think people are having a tough time resisting the urge to compare these PC tablets to the iPad. This causes a host of preconceived notions and expectations. I dont like contrasting them in this way because I believe there is room in the market for different kinds of tablets. The confusion comes in when people try to fit that square peg in that round hole,

I also think people are having a tough time resisting the urge to compare these PC tablets to the iPad. This causes a host of preconceived notions and expectations. I dont like contrasting them in this way because I believe there is room in the market for different kinds of tablets. The confusion comes in when people try to fit that square peg in that round hole,

I agree on this point; my wife loves her iPad 4 and I'm sure her experience would be drastically inferior on my 500T, but the reverse is also true: I haven't turned on my old iPad 1 since I got the Samsung, and the word processing experience with real MS Office is light years ahead of every single one of the iOS word proc apps I spent real money on. But I primarily write and draw on my tablet, while she primarily reads. Different devices built to suit different functions.--"The counsel of fools is all the more dangerous the more of them there are." -Ólafr Höskuldsson

Yes it is true one could connect a dongle device to get cellular service. That isn't the issue.

The issue for me, is the purpose of having a tablet in the first place. Which varies from person to person.For me, I use one for on the go situations. To have something that is light weight and useful. I like built in cellular service, not that I am declaring iPad king of gadgets, but for the convenience.Also, less items to carry or lose.--Oh, praise the one who paid my debt;And raised this life up from the dead.

I also think people are having a tough time resisting the urge to compare these PC tablets to the iPad. This causes a host of preconceived notions and expectations. I dont like contrasting them in this way because I believe there is room in the market for different kinds of tablets. The confusion comes in when people try to fit that square peg in that round hole,

I agree on this point; my wife loves her iPad 4 and I'm sure her experience would be drastically inferior on my 500T, but the reverse is also true: I haven't turned on my old iPad 1 since I got the Samsung, and the word processing experience with real MS Office is light years ahead of every single one of the iOS word proc apps I spent real money on. But I primarily write and draw on my tablet, while she primarily reads. Different devices built to suit different functions.

I'm kind of surprised to hear you kept your first gen iPad. I eventually sold my first gen iPad some time after upgrading to the 3rd gen when it was new. So I skipped a gen. Having them side by side was interesting and I could tell the difference in performance for some tasks.

But I hear you, my ASUS Eee slate EP121 Core i5 PC Tablet only gets about ~3 hrs of battery life. So while I really like it and its power, I would have to be tethered to a power outlet after ~3 hrs and my iPad will do more like 8 or 9 hrs. ~3hrs is still better then my laptop though,....

So you pick the right tool for the job basically,...

The ASUS Eee slate EP121 has a Wacom digitizer with pressure sensitivity and the iPad has nothing like that so inking / drawing is a much better experience on the ASUS.

I've heard the Surface Pro doesn't have user replaceable memory which is a bit of a drag if true. There is a lot I can replace or upgrade in the ASUS,....

I'm kind of surprised to hear you kept your first gen iPad. I eventually sold my first gen iPad some time after upgrading to the 3rd gen when it was new. So I skipped a gen. Having them side by side was interesting and I could tell the difference in performance for some tasks.

Heh, I actually skipped two generations -- upgraded from the original iPad to an iPad 4 when they came out. That was effectively why I kept the old one so long. By that point the original iPad had lost a lot of value and I decided to keep it to use for word processing at night when I don't want to break out an i7 laptop. However, I was stymied by the fact that there is frak-all for decent word processing apps on iOS. I've tried 'em all. They all suck. One of them has horrible input lag with Bluetooth keyboards, another has lethal bugs that render your files corrupt or crashes at random, another doesn't do styles, another doesn't render inline images. On and on. Couldn't take it.

That was the thing that really pushed me into a Win8 tablet, but I've found lots more to love since then (like the Wacom digitizer -- how awesome).

I may end up liking the Samsung ATIV enough that I look to replace it with something a little more versatile, like the Asus tablets you mention.

But yes, I too noticed that the performance difference between the iPad 1 and iPad 4 in many ways is quite stark. I was surprised to discover less of an impact from the high-DPI display than I expected, though, after moving up to a high-DPI phone. But then the iPad's screen is a lot bigger and we spend our time with our eyes further away from it.--"The counsel of fools is all the more dangerous the more of them there are." -Ólafr Höskuldsson

I may end up liking the Samsung ATIV enough that I look to replace it with something a little more versatile, like the Asus tablets you mention.

But yes, I too noticed that the performance difference between the iPad 1 and iPad 4 in many ways is quite stark. I was surprised to discover less of an impact from the high-DPI display than I expected, though, after moving up to a high-DPI phone. But then the iPad's screen is a lot bigger and we spend our time with our eyes further away from it.

Well my Asus Eee Slate EP121 Core i5 based PC tablet is actually somewhat old at this point. I believe it was released in early 2011 and shipped with Windows 7 Home Premium and was about ~$1100 USD. Its Core i5-470UM processor is still quite powerful considering Atom class performance is common in this type of tablet PC (x86 / x64). So you would probably want something newer. If not you can probably find a used one on Amazon for about ~$579.

Microsoft used the Asus Eee Slate EP121 as a demo system for Windows 8 and its still shows up in some of its advertising photos for Windows 8.

Its 1280x800 resolution is probably one of its few shortcomings IMO but its still totally serviceable.

And I agree with you about the retina display. It wasn't jaw dropping compared to the old first gen iPad. BTW, I didn't get much for my first gen iPad. I sold it via the Amazon buyback program and got a ~$260 coupon.